Atalanta surprises Frosinone and moves into the top four

His team's performance left Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini smiling broadly.
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In the long confrontation with Fiorentina, which stumbled against Udinese Calcio on Sunday (2-2), Atalanta Bergamo was able to improve on Monday evening and reduce the gap with the Champions League qualifying places to one point. Last but not least, the previous 2-1 win in the Coppa Italia quarter-finals in Milan ensured that the chest was wide. Gian Piero Gasperini fielded an almost identical side against newly promoted Frosinone and brought in only Skamaca in place of Miranchuk.

But for Frosinone, the signs looked different. The 4-0 defeat to Juventus in the cup was the fourth official defeat in a row, and in the league the gap to the relegation zone was only two points before the match. Eusebio Di Francesco made five substitutions, including putting Ibrahimovic, on loan from Bayer, on the bench in place of Sule.

Atalanta made it 3-0 early

However, the changes did not lead to any improvement. On the contrary: Frosinone had a very poor start and was literally caught off guard in the early stages. After just six minutes, Matthews Lusuardi brought down Holm inside the penalty area and awarded a penalty kick, which Kopmeiners converted (eighth). Shortly afterwards, Ederson (13th) and De Ketelaer (14th) made it 3-0 with a double strike.

At the Gois Stadium in Bergamo, memories of La Dea's 8-2 home win against Salerno must have come back early. Okolie, on loan from Atalanta, who blocked Ederson's shot (25th minute) and Turati, who blocked Skamaka's header (26th minute), prevented things from continuing in this direction in the first half. Then Frosinone settled somewhat, but remained harmless.

During the break, Di Francesco made three changes, which were noticeable at first. Newcomer Guegemis, who came on as a substitute, immediately passed to Chidera, who was saved by Carnesecchi (46). A little later, Chidera again intercepted a short back pass from Ruggeri, but was unable to get past the goalkeeper (49).

Holm celebrates his first goal

However, Atalanta did not do much more than that. Instead, La Dea had the final say in the second half. At the end of a quick counter-attack, Pasalic passed the ball to Zappacosta who fired the ball into the corner from 15 meters to make it 4-0 (83). Shortly afterwards, Holm scored his first goal for Atalanta from a corner kick, making it 5-0 (90th place) – Frosinone has never lost more in the Italian Senate.

This means that Bergamo jumped from Bologna to fifth place in the table. With a better goal difference, Gasperini's side are now just one point away from fourth-placed Florence in the Champions League. While Atalanta will not continue to face Udinese Calcio until January 27 (3 p.m.), Frosinone, which is still two points away from the relegation zone, will face a challenge in a cellar duel against Cagliari Calcio next Sunday (12:30 p.m.).